Gigi Salmon looks back at Rafael Nadal's Six Kings Slam farewell; watch all the ATP and WTA action on Sky Sports Tennis and Sky Sports+ which is integrated into Sky TV, streaming service NOW and the Sky Sports app
Monday 21 October 2024 14:55, UK
In her latest Sky Sports column, Gigi Salmon looks back at the Six Kings Slam in Saudi Arabia while attempting to pick her favourite Rafael Nadal moment. She also discusses Danielle Collins' surprise U-turn and looks ahead to the WTA Finals.
The conversations will continue around exhibitions and whether they should be allowed during the season, where they should or should not be staged and the money that's on offer, which in this case was an eye-watering $6m for the winner, and so they should. I'm sure I will come back to this topic.
For now, though, I want to talk about what we saw and as a fan of this sport. It was an absolute pleasure to be able to watch Rafa Nadal take to the singles court for quite possibly and more than likely the last time, barring a singles selection for Spain in the Davis Cup finals next month.
It was a pleasure to see Nadal come up against Novak Djokovic for an unofficial 61st [and last] meeting, and then to round things off by watching Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz - the best two players in the world face each other.
Nadal's biggest battle over his career has been with his body, and while not expecting much from him, there were flashes of brilliance.
As an ambassador for the Saudi Tennis Federation, Nadal, in whatever physical state, was going to take part in the Six Kings Slam and there are many who are happy he did.
Alcaraz went easy on him in the semi-finals and the same can be said for Djokovic as one of the greatest rivalries this sport has seen played out.
Pat Cash, Liam Broady and I were asked during the week for our favourite Nadal moment to go on social media, which is slightly unfair as there are so many, and while the 2008 Wimbledon final jumped out as it does for a lot of people, I went for Roland Garros.
Firstly because winning it 14 times is surely something we won't see again and, secondly, winning his 14th with 'no feeling' in his left foot is outrageous!
Novak Djokovic, who has said of Nadal "he has been my greatest rival and my rivalry with him has impacted me the most in my career by far", showed us that he still has a lot more to offer. His hunger remains and with more matches, he will surely find the level needed to win his 25th grand Slam title and his 100th tour title.
I think he might have to wait until the summer as I'm not sure he will be adding to his 10 Australian Open titles in January, but then again my record with predictions is pretty awful!
The main event never once had the feel of an exhibition as the two best players in the world faced off against each other for the fourth time this year and for the first time since the Beijing final that saw Alcaraz extend his lead over Sinner to 3-0 in 2024.
A rivalry that is building nicely, good friends off the court, and great adversaries on it who bring out the best in each other.
Sinner, the confirmed year-end No 1, would be crowned the $6 million man, coming from a set down to beat Alcaraz, and while it was an exhibition, you feel psychologically it was very important for Sinner to get the win - with some important matches still to be played this year.
So as Nadal waits to see if he will play for Spain next month before he hangs up his racket, 2024 is also the year we said goodbye to Andy Murray, Angelique Kerber, Garbine Muguruza, Camila Giorgi and Steve Johnson. Dominic Thiem is also playing his last event this week in Vienna, while Diego Schwartzman and Richard Gasquet have announced that they will be retiring during the 2025 season.
Someone we expected to say goodbye to was Danielle Collins, who surprised everyone at the start of the year by saying that 2024 would be her last season before going on an absolute tear that included winning the WTA 1000 in Miami, heading over to Charleston and winning the title there, reaching the quarter-finals at the Olympics and almost sneaking into the end-of-year WTA Finals.
Whenever she was asked if she would change her mind, she said - in no uncertain terms - that she wouldn't, but what isn't certain and what we can't predict is the future, one in which Collins has spoken of her 'ultimate dream' to have a family - a dream which is made all the harder by endometriosis which can affect fertility.
"Dealing with endometriosis and fertility is a massive challenge for many women and something that I am actively traversing, but I am fully confident in the team I am working with. It is just going to take longer than I thought."
In Danielle's own words, 'I will be back next year, this story is not over.'
Now, while coaching changes are normal and plentiful in the world of tennis, the timing of Iga Swiatek making a change surprised many, with just a few weeks of the season left to play.
Deciding to sit out the Asian swing, the news then came that Swiatek and coach Tomasz Wiktorowski were parting ways after three very successful years together which saw her win 19 of her 22 tour titles, including four of her five Grand Slams.
Swiatek spoke of being ready to take the next step in her career and that will include the experienced Belgian coach Wim Fissette.
Fissette, who until recently was with Naomi Osaka, has proclaimed Swiatek to be 'probably the best tennis athlete of all time.'
This all leads up very nicely to the season-ending finale, the WTA Finals. The eight players are confirmed and with the rankings out today, Aryna Sabalenka is back at World No 1, with this week being her ninth in top spot after her recent Wuhan win took her 41 points ahead of Swiatek, who will be defending her title at the finals with a maximum of 1500 points on offer.
Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, which has just held the Six Kings Slam, is the host for the next three editions of the WTA Finals, with a prize fund of $15.25 million.
It is a controversial choice, with Jessica Pegula saying: "If we go there we want to be making change."
I am looking forward to being reunited with Laura and Tim for both the WTA and ATP finals, which we will have for you live on Sky Sports Tennis from November 2. But I'm not looking forward to us going over our top eight predictions which we made at the start of the year, as I know there is going to be a lot of 'Why did you pick them' and 'Did you really think they would make the finals?'
So, I am going to spend some time before we head out there working on my excuses for why I picked who I did!
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